I tried an experiment: four-gallon makes each of Cheddar, Cheshire, and Lancashire, all cloth-bound; then I could compare and contrast and find out which I preferred.

Perhaps I’ve developed some “cheese intuition,” or maybe it just smelled funny, but after six months there seemed to be something off with the Lancashire. Indeed, as I discovered after cutting it open:

Completely horrible and a spectacular failure, and it went straight into the bin.

Cheshire can be eaten young, after just a few weeks, but that wasn’t part of the experiment. It was with some trepidation that after two more months, I cut into the Cheshire:

. . . and should have sharpened my cleaver first!

The paste was dryer and crumblier (and oranger . . . I may have had a heavy hand with the annatto) than I expected:

But, you ask, how did it taste?

I gotta say, darn good. Somewhat different from a Chedder, maybe a bit sweeter?, but with a nice complexity of flavor.

So, very happy with this. I had resorted to buying some rubber supermarket cheddar, but now I have four pounds of similar, which will just get better in the fridge.

Edit: I made a basic baked mac ‘n’ cheese, and it was surprisingly delicious, maybe the best mac ‘n’ cheese I’ve had? Creamy and sweet, but with a real depth of cheesy flavour. Sorry, Kraft!

-R